1. Field of the Invention
The fruit of the plant is primarily used as fresh fruit for shipping. The fruit is also suitable for customer-pick and processing markets.
2. Description of Relevant Prior Art
The new and distinct variety of rabbiteye blueberry ‘Ochlockonee’, was selected in 1963 at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton, Ga. from a cross of ‘Tifblue’ (non-patented)×‘Menditoo’ (non-patented) made in Beltsville, Md. and was tested as selection T-105. ‘Tifblue’ resulted from a cross of ‘Ethel’ (non-patented)×‘Clara’ (non-patented), and ‘Menditoo’ resulted from a cross of ‘Myers’ (non-patented)×‘Black Giant’ (non-patented). The selection was tested for several years and in the late 1980's, the selection was planted with ‘Tifblue’ at the University of Georgia's Blueberry Research Farm near Alapaha, Ga. Resulting data from several years indicate that ‘Ochlockonee’ is a high yielding late season variety, and should be widely adapted to areas conducive to rabbiteye blueberry production.
The male parent ‘Menditoo’ is only slightly improved from the wild species and was used primarily to improve berry size. It had very few other commercially desirable features. To the best knowledge of the inventor, it is not currently available for comparisons to be made. The new variety is most similar to ‘Tifblue’.
‘Ochlockonee’ has been primarily compared with the late season rabbiteye standard ‘Tifblue’. In Alapaha, Ga., productivity of ‘Ochlockonee’ exceeded that of ‘Tifblue’ in each of the past 5 years for plants that were established in 1986, and substantially exceeded that of ‘Tifblue’ ir. 3 of the 5 years. The 5 year average yield for ‘Ochlockonee’ in south Georgia was 67% greater than that of ‘Tifblue’, based on single bush, replicated plots. In addition to high yield, another important trait of ‘Ochlockonee’ as compared to ‘Tifblue’ is increased berry size, especially for first harvest berries. For each of the past 5 years the first harvest berries on ‘Ochlockonee’ plants established in 1986 were significantly bigger at the 5% probability level than berries of ‘Tifblue’. The 5-year (1998-2002) average of annual yields was 17.0 lb. per plant for Ochlockonee compared to 10.1 lb. per plant for Tifblue, for plants grown in Alapaha, Ga. The 5 year average was 37% larger for first harvest ‘Ochlockonee’ berries, and was 25% larger for second harvest ‘Ochlockonee’ berries. These two properties alone make ‘Ochlockonee’ desirable as a highly productive, late season rabbiteye cultivar.
Other attributes such as berry scar, berry color, berry firmness, plant vigor, etc. for ‘Ochlockonee’ are comparable to ‘Tifblue’. ‘Ochlockonee’ generally ripens a few days later than ‘Tifblue’, and bloom dates are similar which is favorable for escaping spring freeze damage in the south Georgia area. The estimated chill requirement of ‘Ochlockonee’ is 600 to 650 h, which is similar to or slightly higher than that of ‘Tifblue’.
As for adaptation to other areas, young plants of ‘Ochlockonee’ planted in 2000 at Griffin, Ga. equaled ‘Tifblue’ in most attributes in 2002, except for crop load, which was greater for ‘Ochlockonee’, and ripening date, which was later for ‘Ochlockonee’. In Stone County, Miss., 2 year old plant of ‘Ochlockonee’ and ‘Tifblue’ evaluated in 2002 were equal in plant vigor. The bush of the new cultivar is very “durable”, since a planting of ‘Ochlockonee’ at Alapaha, Ga. that is more than 25 years old is still quite vigorous and productive.
The bush type of ‘Ochlockonee’ is vigorous and upright, with a fairly narrow crown. Plants have an abundant production of fruiting wood each year, with only moderate cane growth. Some stem disease lesions (Gloeosporium minus and/or Septoria albopunctata) have been observed on an older planting of ‘Ochlockonee’ in south Georgia, but several years of observations have indicated this has caused no serious production problems.
As with most rabbiteye blueberry cultivars, it is recommended that ‘Ochlockonee’ be planted with another rabbiteye cultivar with a similar bloom time for cross pollination. In south Georgia, the cultivars ‘Brightwell’ and ‘Powderblue’ would be suitable pollinizers for ‘Ochlockonee’.
The new variety has been asexually propagated on many occasions since 1963 by softwood cuttings at Griffin, Ga. It roots readily from softwood cuttings and in all cases the clones propagated from cuttings have maintained the vegetative and fruit characteristics of the original selection.